Sport and heredity: what your genes influence

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you do not see the results of your workouts in the gym, several factors may have influenced it at once. For example, diet, exercise schedule and type. But genes also influence the results. Maybe you were made for something different?

There are genes that improve the results of aerobic exercise and affect muscle strength, endurance during exercise, and the size and shape of your body. To understand exactly how genes affect your athletic performance, turn to University of Maryland professor Stephen Roth.

When genes matter

What genes influence more - physical or psychological endurance? Stephen Roth believes that DNA is important for both processes. In addition, it is worth asking the question in a different way: is the difference between you and other people big, and does it depend on genes? The idea behind this is called heredity.

Estimation of heredity is always a little rough because it is based on the results of a study of a specific population group. If scientists are only interested in people who lead a sedentary lifestyle and do cardio, then the difference in results depends mainly on DNA. If professional athletes are included in the focus group, genes play a lesser role - only 50%.

This is why you don't need to be upset if you find “bad” genes in your family. Certain characteristics of the body are indeed passed down from generation to generation, but even that can be changed.

For example, obesity is transmitted in 70% of cases, that is, genes play an important role in this matter. But we all know that the right diet and active training will do their noble cause.

Here are some data on the inheritance of athletic ability. The higher the percentage, the more you can blame genes for your own failures.

• Aerobic exercise - 40-50%.
• Strength exercises - 50-60%.
• Endurance - 45%.
• High growth - 80%.
• Ability for sports as such - 66%.

Exercise ability is also important and also gene-driven. For example, if you and your friend decide to follow the same training program, it is likely that one of you will be stronger than the other by the end of the training session.

There is another factor that is more difficult to understand, but it gives all of us hope for the best. The ability to play sports is a multicomponent thing. You may not be able to run as fast as your soccer teammates, but you have incredible eyesight and strong punch. Or maybe you have a hard time doing strength training, but you have long legs that make you a tough runner.

Don't give up anyway. Even if they found a couple of "weak" genes.

How important are genes

Most of us don't try to run faster than Usain Bolt, so genes are less important to them than to professional athletes.

We mean that it is easier for ordinary people, because the bar is not that high. Most of us don't want to run the marathon first, but just make it to the finish line. After all, everyone can train with such a goal. Or we want to defeat the opposing team in the next football (basketball, hockey, Quidditch) match, but not come out on top in the professional league. For those who play sports in their free time, the next achievement brings pleasure, the desire to achieve more and develop an effective strategy for further action.

The genetic advantage of one ability over another is incredibly small. But this tiny detail separates the Olympic gold medalist from the couch fan watching all the games at home.

Why there is no simple genetic test

Genetics is a complex science. Of the 20,000 human genes, according to Stephen Roth, only hundreds have been studied and only a few dozen have been studied in terms of their impact on training results.

A 2009 study shows that you can predict a person's height by measuring the height of their parents and examining 54 height genes.

There are genetic tests that are designed to assess a person's ability to play sports, but their informative value is questioned. You can identify, for example, a gene called ACE. Some versions of it are associated with the aerobic talent and endurance of athletes.

But the data obtained about genes cannot be applied in practice. Stephen Roth says none of these tests can be considered objective. Perhaps it will show 1-2% of the status quo.

Based on such genetic tests, you may be advised on specific sports, but science is not something to rely on in your choice.

Stephen Roth also believes that such genetic tests cannot be performed on children. Their results say very little about the child's talent, but parents can adopt them and make their child rush from section to section, insist on achieving incredibly high results. Doing this based on the analysis of several genes is silly.

How to find out what the ability is

So tests won't help us. How do you determine which sport you are inclined towards?

It is better (and easier) to look at your family and your own experiences.

For example, if your parents have achieved impressive results in running or swimming, you should try these sports too.

Or, let's say you've been training for several years to run a marathon. But long distances are so bad for you that you still have not been able to achieve your goal. But for short ones, you feel like a fish in water. Change your schedule, do what you have the ability to do. But do not rush to blame genes for all your troubles. Perhaps you should train a little harder.

Avoid burnout, do not overdo it with sports. This often happens to professional athletes.

Whatever your genes, you can always find something for yourself and play sports successfully.